The young adult's guide to Baltimore

Throwback Songs of Summer

I heard NSYNC’s Tearin’ Up My Heart on the radio this morning and then came across this Baltimore Sun story on the top summer songs of the 90’s so I have definitely got throwback music on the brain! I figured Throwback Thursday is the perfect time for some musical nostalgia. It’s crazy how you can hear a song and so quickly be transported back to a specific moment in time. For Tearin’ Up My Heart that would be performing karaoke with a group of friends at my elementary school’s annual Fun Fair.

The Sun based their article on actual stats like “seasonal popularity on Billboard’s Hot 100 charts” which is fine and all, but I prefer to make my lists based on gut feeling and what songs I know all the words to! Join me in looking back at some of the best summer songs. Did I miss your faves? Add them in the comments!

Another Night – Real McCoy

1995

I’m pretty sure 1995 was the first year I really started listening to music since when I think back in my memory three songs from that year jump out and Another Night is at the top of my list. I remember it coming on the radio at summer camp (the other memories that have stayed with me from camp that year include being force fed lima beans and riding horses). Anyway, is there a song that is more fun to sing along to? Seriously listen to it right now and have fun jumping in with the rap part at the end.

Growing up in Northern Virginia, we didn’t get out of school until the third week of June, well after the summer weather hit. Those days at the end of the school year were the best and the worst – the worst because we were still in school and the best because no one, not even the teachers, wanted to actually do school work. It was all end of year picnics and extra recess. It’s during those last few weeks of school that I remember hearing Roll to Me, Del Amitri’s catchy single.

This also made the Sun’s list and is another song I distinctly remember from my Fun Fair karaoke days. Remember the days when you could go up on stage completely sober and belt out the words to your favorite songs with no shame? Because karaoke and I are not friends anymore.

Speaking of awesome girl groups of the 90’s… Wannabe came out in July of 1996 and all of a sudden we were all wearing platform sneakers and Union Jack t-shirts. The Spice Girls have also had staying power as a group Halloween costume- we resurrected our Spice Girls looks in high school and college.

On your mark ready set let’s go, okay wikipedia tells me this song came out in January, but in my head it is still a summer song. Possibly because that summer I went to cheerleading camp in South Carolina and we learned a routine to the tune and I might still remember some of the moves…

Tell me why this song is such a classic! We sang this non-stop that summer including on the swings at the Fairfax Fair (apparently all I did in the summer growing up was go to fairs?). There was also guaranteed to be a BSB song on every Now That’s What I Call Music and one of those CDs was pretty much always playing on my back deck or by the pool all summer long (PS they still make these and are on #54 so if you don’t already feel old, there’s that).

More recently, there have also been a lot of songs with really strong associations with a particular summer.

For example, Chamillionaire’s Ridin’ stayed with me all summer in 2006 and could you avoid hearing Rihanna’s Umbrella in the summer of 2007? Or TI’s Whatever You Like released in July 2008 (pretty much THE song associated with my senior year of college)? How about Party in the USA in 2010? 2011 was the summer my former employer the Washington Kastles had an undefeated season culminating in an epic 8 hour long (thanks rain delays) final in Charleston, SC and our soundtrack that summer will forever and always be Party Rock Anthem and Superbass. Call Me Maybe was so my jam in 2012 probably to the chagrin of Jeanette who had to live with me while I blasted that baby on repeat.